Situation
A founder with a consumer product, a plan and no sales record yet. The company is still a name on a page: nothing is incorporated, nobody is hired, and every decision so far lives in one person's memory.
Objective
Before the first hire, turn the name on the page into a company that can run: a structure settled by the professionals, roles and processes on paper, cash seen twelve months ahead, and a rhythm for deciding.
Approach
How this desk would run it
Structure, With the Professionals
The form of the company and its first filings are settled by a practising company secretary and a chartered accountant. ARKA writes the brief, coordinates them and keeps the dates. It does not advise on the structure.
Roles and Core Processes
Who does what, and how work passes from one hand to the next, written down before anyone is hired. The first hire joins a company, not one person's memory.
Twelve-Month Cash Forecast
Month by month, what comes in and what goes out. Each figure is traced to a source file. If a number is missing, the forecast says so.
First Numbers
A budget, and a scorecard of the five measures the desk reads at every stage: cash and runway, conversion, cost of acquisition, margin and retention. Before launch most of them are blank, and the scorecard says so.
Operating Rhythm
A status note at an agreed weekly interval, a monthly review and a quarterly review. The founder decides. The desk makes sure it happens.
Sequence
Indicative order of work
Phase 01
Diagnostic
What the desk already sees is written down from desk research. The founder reads it before the first working session.
Phase 02
Kickoff
One session: the outcome, the constraints, the venture build plan and its dates. Every action leaves with a name and a date.
Phase 03
Build
The structure goes to the professionals. Roles, processes, the forecast and the scorecard are written, and the founder approves each piece.
Phase 04
First offer
The founder takes one offer, at one price, to one kind of customer. The status note and the monthly review begin.
Measure of Done
What the mandate is for
Venture Build Plan
In this scenario the mandate is met when the founder holds a venture build plan that sets out the stages from idea to running compliance and who does each, and the structure, roles, forecast and rhythm are in place before the first hire.
ARKA does not give legal, tax or investment advice and does not audit or certify accounts. Company formation, filings and tax are carried out by practising professionals: the chartered accountant is engaged by the client directly or through ARKA, as the mandate sets out, and the company secretary is engaged by the company. ARKA prepares the ground, coordinates them and keeps the calendar. The forecast and the budget are unaudited; anything sent outside the company is reviewed by a chartered accountant first.
Desk
Who would run it